March 17, 2009

Weekends are never long enough

We had fabulous weather this weekend. It’s just a shame it was over in a flash.

Saturday was a full day of shopping; no, not for shoes or purses, but guns and ammo. First, I did get my groceries out of the way. Then, I met Frank at work, and we headed over to Tropicana for the Crossroads Gun Show. We’re looking to get another gun; this one will be suited for me. The grip on the Glock is great for Frank, but I have much smaller hands so it’s not perfectly comfortable to handle. Last year, while in Phoenix, I really liked the Ruger .45. We know we’re in the market for a .45, but the Ruger’s I’ve handled in stores haven’t been a good fit. A while back, I found a Taurus .45 I liked a lot at Bass Pro-Shops, but I found that early on and I wanted to be sure we buy exactly what I want. We’ve kept looking, but I seem to keep falling back to the Taurus.

The Gun Show was a madhouse. We drove around for a good 10-15 minutes looking for a parking spot. Admission was $14; we thought that was a bit steep. We’ve never been to show before so maybe that’s the norm? We stopped by the few tables selling fire arms. I tried every .45 they had available and wouldn’t you know it, it was the Taurus I liked best. Prices for the guns weren’t great deals so I wasn’t pressed to buy on the spot. There’s no doubt I know what I want, but I want to hit the range and try out a couple models because I’m undecided on the barrel length. The only way to make that decision is to fire off a few rounds and get a feel for each type. So, there’s more research to be done.

After checking out the guns, we hit the two ammo vendors. They had more varieties than I ever knew existed. We knew we wanted to stock up on 9mm. It’s been hard to find in stores lately. Wal-Mart has the best prices around and they can’t keep a supply. I was told I have to call at 7am when they receive shipments and come down ASAP because they sell out so fast. I want ammo damn it, not a Wii. It shouldn’t be that complicated. Anyway, I spotted one 1000 round box, I hurried up and grabbed it. Good thing I did, it was the last box. Since we know we’re going to pick up a .45 in the near future we went ahead and bought rounds for that, as well. We were a few hundred dollars lighter, but it was a good price and it’ll be nice not having to track down ammo; we’re stocked for quite awhile.

We went around to the other tables, we bought a Glock holster for $20, but we didn’t find anything else we were in the market for. I was surprised by the number of tables selling food – jerky, nuts, candy, trinkets, and whatnot. I didn’t expect that, I thought there would be more vendors selling weapons and ammo, but the majority was accessories and junk, in my opinion, anyway.

Sunday, we never went off-roading. Instead, Frank worked on the Jimmy and I tackled another landscaping project in the backyard. I filled another six garbage bags of leaves and trimmings. There’s still much more to do. The work is endless, I tell ya. Unfortunately, Frank had no luck with the Jimmy, he decided to rewire the entire electrical system, but he ran into troubles and the truck won’t even start at this point. Our friend, Shane, is a mechanic whiz; luckily he’ll be visiting in April. He and Frank should be able to get it in tip-top shape in a few weeks. It’s just a shame it’s not operational, the weather is just perfect for a day in the desert – rock climbing and running trails. In the meantime, we can do stock trails with the Suburban. So, all is not lost. I’m just hoping Frank isn’t stuck working all weekend, because of March Madness. We’ll see how that pans out.